Weird Wars, War Wolves, and...Nazi Gorillas?
Helloooooo, I'm your comic book wolf. This week, I decided that perhaps its time to delve not only to the obscure, but also make it appropriately festive! So, this week, for the oncoming Halloween...well, let me start with some setup, hmmmm?
In the Early Seventies, where the Comic's Code was slowly losing its death hold on comic books, more and more comics were getting away with subject matter that the past two decades had long since held back...now was the time of westerns and war stories...with a twist! Hence came titles such as...DC COMIC'S WEIRD WAR TALES!
Yes, most tales were set in World War II, but all stories were tinged with science fiction, fantasy, and horror. The host of this anthology, strange enough, was Death. Thats right, no witty crypt keeper, but DEATH itself. Of course, it wasn't always deathly serious...don't believe me...behold!
NAZI GORILLAS!
Of course, this was just to set up the real focus of our articles...ladies and gentlefurs I give you the STRANGEST combat unit of World War II...from Project M comes...
CREATURE COMMANDOS!
And now...their origin...
Project M (for Monster!) was a World War II secret government organization which specialized in experimental biotechnology.In 1942, Project M created the Creature Commandos — humans turned to freaks. They were: Lt. Matthew Shrieve (the human fellow with the green helmet and the orange sweater)was their leader. Though fully human, he possessed a monstrous spirit and an inhuman appetite for destruction. Warren Griffith, a simple farm boy who suffered from lycanthropy. Project M gave him the true ability to change into a werewolfSgt. Vincent Velcoro volunteered for the experiments to commute his 30-year sentence in the brig (he crippled his superior officer). He can change into a bat and requires human blood to survive.Pvt. Elliot "Lucky" Taylor barely survived stepping on a mine. He was stitched back together — against his will — à la Frankenstein and without vocal cords. A tragic figure, Taylor could not express his feelings for...Dr. Myrra Rhodes (Dr. Medusa). When she inhaled strange fumes and grew snakes for hair.
Project M yielded other interesting specimens.
Their missions included super soldier children, android duplicates and much much more, but their adventures hit their peek when they recieved their most memorable mission yet. In 1943, the Commandos ventured to the mythical "Dinosaur Island" in the South Pacific!
They were supposed to solve the disappearance of several Allied spotter planes. They discovered an Axis naval fleet and were able to turn the dinosaurs on the Japanese boats. Shrieve took pictures for his commanders as proof of the island's existence. But Taylor destroyed them; he reasoned that the war machine could only bring destruction to the dinosaurs. But they would soon return to the island and meet...the G.I. ROBOT!
Thats right. You see at this time, the Creature Commandos were only one of two recurring stories. The other included...
The G.I. Robot was a mechanical man who was built in the laboratories of Project "M" in the spring of 1942. Two early models had been destroyed on missions to Dinosaur Island before the creation of new model: the Jungle Automatic Killer, Experimental (or J.A.K.E.). Marine Sgt. Coker was assigned to test J.A.K.E. 1, a prototype for robot soldiers, under actual combat conditions. Coker came to think of J.A.K.E. as a friend after it repeatedly saved his life.
But at this time, J.A.K.E. 1 had been left in the ocean after attacking an enemy ship. It was there he met the Commandos' when their plane was attacked by a dinosaur and crashed. Together, the heroes discovered an underwater civilization, a colony of ancient Atlantis. These Atlanteans were androids and possessed J.A.K.E. The robot ultimately overrode their commands and sacrificed himself to destroy an old Pacific colony of Atlantas.The Commandos met J.A.K.E. 2 in the "hospital" after the robot had been injured. The Commandos and G.I. Robot's paths soon crossed often enough that J.A.K.E 2 joined them, and continued to fight off various supernatural and science fictional menances, such as remanents of the Atlantean robots.
But alas, both bad and good luck fell upon them. Supposedly, the Creature Commandos and J.A.K.E. 2 were spared from a government-directed death sentence to man a rocket aimed at Berlin. Instead, the rocket went radically off course and headed deep into outer space.
But! Their story did not end there. In fact, their story...well, its hard to say really. After Crisis (the first one) but before Infinite Crisis (the second one), the Creature Commandos returned to Earth and Project M at some unspecified time. To keep pace with their aging physiology, "the Doctor" (Mazursky, who'd originally transformed them) continued to perform various body modifications. This effectively extends their lives, but at the cost of their humanity.
Lt. Shrieve died or retired along the way (he was not biologically altered). In his place was Captain Lucius Hunter, who in modern times was said to be 74 years old, and a recipient of similar body modifications. Hunter was part of the well-known battalion, the Hellcats. And then there was Gunner McKay, who was part of the wartime duo "Gunner and Sarge." They died within minutes of one another after being gunned down by enemy troops. Gunner was subsequently retrieved and revived by the Doctor at Project M as a cyborg, his codename all the more fitting and ironic.
On a recent undercover investigation, Medusa spent five years learning that Earth's dimension was in danger of invasion by an alliance from Terra Arcana. This other-dimensional alliance was headed by many old Justice League villians : Lord Saturna, Hyathis of Alstair, Tazzala of Korrl; Sayvar, reptile lord of Llarr; Kraad of Kranaal; Simon Magus of Blackstaff; Xotar the Weapons Master; Kromm of Mosteel; and the Troll King.
They were together to conquer the one remaining dimension — Earth's — Saturna's alliance enlisted the help of one Mr. Murray, a representative of a powerful consortium on Earth. This group from Earth gave weapons and teleportation technology to the alliance in return for alien real estate. Tazzala and Magus soon betrayed Saturna, cutting their own deal with Murray. In the M-Team's raid on Terra Arcana, Velcoro and Gunner were captured by Claw, the Unconquered (Remember him, Canaan? ;3)Soon Claw was convinced to ally with them, and his people joined the battle against Saturna. In the end, Tazzala killed Saturna and was, herself, killed. Terra Arcana was then left in the hands of it's people. They would later be seen in larger story arcs such as the OMAC project and Villians United
However, this story now seemes to be considered either an Elseworlds or now out of continuity given developments made post Infinite Crisis/Final Crisis...or perhaps set further in time, as of Action Comics 872, the CLASSIC Creature Commandos, including G.I. Robot, returned after Superman freed them from containment from Brainac's "collection...
So...only time will tell which happens first and such...but still, its good to see them back!
Ah yes, a whole combat unit formed of monsters and robots...theres nothing else like them...okay, maybe Hellboy and BPRD, if you want to split hairs, but these guys were here first, and there are NO substituti...
....Right, I should mention this too, huh?
Well, Several years after DC did the more modern Creature Commandos mini series, they attempted a similiar effort with an ongoing, forming a special SHIELD task force comprised of their monsters and supernatural spooks. This included Clay Quartermain, the human commanding officer of Area 13. Warwolf (real name Vince Marcus), the field leader. He is a werewolf who can transform voluntarily whenever Mars is in the night sky.
Nina Price, a half-vampire and half-werewolf. N'Kantu, the Living Mummy , an undead prince of Ancient Egypt. Frankenstein, an intelligent clone of the original Frankenstein's Monster (How this process didn't produce different clones of the various individual body parts making up the original monster was briefly mentioned in issue #1. The response was, "Don't go there".). Gorilla-Man (Kenneth Hale), who is a man trapped in a gorilla's body. And finally, John Doe,a zombie who has normal human-level intelligence, in contrast to other zombie characters in the Marvel universe.
Now, giving them points for originality for some parts, and more for using such obscure characters, but it was sort of blantly obvious who they were ripping off. But, it didnt matter in the end. The series only lasted six issues (funny as the Creature Commando mini series from few years prior was eight issues...oh the cruel irony).
So, in the final analysis, what do I have to say about this? You can't make up stuff this weird! I mean ,its bit of a b-movie lover's dream come true. If you described the above out loud, you'd think you were talking about a movie straight out of Mystery Science Theater 3000! But the clear nods to older horror comic cliches and archtypes while adding its own brand of originality certainly gets my approval...that, and seeing a combat unit comprised of a vampire, a robot, a werewolf AND a patchwork man is just too damned cool to pass up. So, my early Halloween treat to you all, and I hope you enjoy! But I won't spoil next weeks big surprise...which is especially fitting for the Trick Or Treat season.
I'm Odin Ashcroft, and I'm your comic book wolf. I read it so you don-
*BOOM!*
What the?
*BOOM! BOOM!*
Oh no...no no, not now! Its too early! They can't be here already! They're supposed to arrive NEXT week!
*BOOM! BOOM! BOO-KERASH!...followed by a cacophany of groans and moans*
I'm Odin Ashcroft, and I'm getting the Hell out of here! *runs off screaming into the night from the undead hordes of super beings*
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Originally Posted by Fenryx
War Wolves 
I like that concept.
